Been playing for roughly 35hrs on Give Me No Mercy difficulty and my thoughts are mixed. I’m something like 70% through the game. I want to preface my comments with a general sense of adoration for the franchise. The last entry in the series was my GOTG. I came into Ragnarok with nothing but positivity but have been left thus far extremely frustrated.
Straight up I want to say that the combat system is bad. There are so many poor design decisions that I’m unsure precisely where to begin. These are just some of the things I had a problem with…
- Enemy chain attacks (2 - 4 hits) when successfully parried does not interrupt chain???
- Due to size and attack range of certain enemies, combat roll doesn’t take you out of the range of attack (why no invincibility window?)
- Block stagger animation (after being struck by a heavy attack) almost always results in damage during high intensity boss fights (unfair penalisation)
- Target lock doesn’t adequately track certain fast moving enemy types; accidental target switching happens regularly I.e. reacts when attempting to orient camera
- Runic attacks not staggering enemies when triggered in time to stop damage
- Enemies using ranged attacks off camera during combat can’t be easily seen
- Enemies moving out of combo at ease; attacks having no stagger ability against certain enemy types
- No ability to block or defend when animation trapped
- Low standard attack damage, low runic damage; only way to deal substantial damage is to charge weapon (L1 + Triangle to release). Charged weapon state takes too long to build up.
- Combat roll requires 2 button presses (adds delay as it takes more time to press twice)
- Takes too long to apply elemental status on enemies (most are dead before elemental status is applied)
- Difficult to see enemy attacks at times due to camera position and enemy mobility
- Evade is poor and continuously causes you to take damage
Further, I want to mention the bizarre difficulty spikes throughout the game. Mini bosses like the Berserkers are very difficult to defeat. I’m a decent player and I feel no shame in admitting that I have had to leave a few to come back to. In contrast, Sigrun was the only boss I had trouble with at all in the previous entry and I played on one of the harder difficulty settings.
Damage taken from enemies across the board is too high. I have been 1 shotted from full health at times. Frequently a red unblockable attack that lands deals 50% - 70% damage. Some regular mobs deal 30% - 40% damage from a standard attack. This wouldn’t be a problem if Kratos dealt high damage or if it was easy to heal without sacrificing Spartan Rage but that is not the case. Also, health drops infrequently and doesn’t restore enough hp to absorb even one standard enemy attack. I also find it strange that Kratos doesn’t regenerate health between encounters given his godly ability to heal himself when wounded.
I’m not sure if this is due to the difficulty setting I am playing on but the pacing has been terrible. Boss fights and mini bosses routinely take forever to defeat. As attacks deal so little damage and enemies deal so much the fights are incredibly drawn out. This applies to standard encounters also. I don’t say this lightly but I am tempted to drop the difficulty down to balanced if only to help with the pacing issues due to lengthy combat sections.
I really want to sing the praises of this game as there is a lot to admire. I have focused on the negatives here but there are many positives to be found. As I said earlier. Thus far my overall impression is mixed.
I thought GOW:R would become a secondary game after completing the main quest, but I’m struggling to let it go - I’m experiencing that terrible period where no other game cuts it at the moment.